International Women’s Day

By | 8 March 2017

“On International Women’s Day, let us all pledge to do everything we can to overcome entrenched prejudice, support engagement and activism, and promote gender equality and women’s empowerment.” UN Secretary-General, António Guterres

This year, the UN’s chosen theme is  “Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030” and women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work will be the focus of the CSW’s 61st session (CSW 61) from 13-24 March in NY. (Here is a library of the UN Documents already drawn up in preparation.) CSW is the abbreviation for Commission on the Status of Women which has been working since 1946 as “the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.”
Progress of the World’s Women is the related occasional series, also available free online.

Click on image & do a simple quiz on women & the economy!

 

Looking at women in the legal profession and starting on our own doorstep (so to speak), there is Oxford Women in Law (OWL), a “network established by the Law Faculty to provide women working in the legal profession with a neutral environment where they can meet with like-minded people and share their experiences.” OWL is having its next  meeting in London in April 2017.

Staying with women in law but widening the focus to the UK, we trust many of the members of OWL have been or will be contributing to
First 100 Years :celebrating the past to shape the future for women in law

“… a ground-breaking history project, supported by the Law Society and the Bar Council, charting the journey of women in law since 1919. The project is powered by Spark21, a charity founded to celebrate, inform and inspire future generation of women in the profession. … Work is now under way to produce a new digital museum made up of 100 video stories that tell the story of women in law. The digital museum will be donated to the British Library in 2019. The project’s legacy will be the creation for the first time of positive role models for women in law, a deep understanding of the past combined with a celebration of today, a cross-sector platform for intelligent debate and change and a valuable archive accessible to everyone from law students to High Court Judges. Our aim is to ensure a strong and equal future for all women in the legal profession.”

Dr Ivy Williams

Certainly there is already one face which those of us who have waited outside The Cube in the St Cross Building                                                                                 will recognize – but had to wait for the passing of the  Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 – and Oxford’s gracious decision to play by its rules!

See Lady Justice Hallett’s reasoning why Dr Williams deserves to be considered a Legal Hero.